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Robin had barely gotten home from her challenge at noah faber 's gym. She had been reminded of Gwen, and the thought of her best friend had excited her. They had much to catch up on. She'd never even gotten to share what had happened in that odd cave during Sootopolis - before Kyogre went crazy. Gwen hadn't met Omen yet. She also thought Gwen would love to hear about how she stood up to her mom (sparing some unsavory details) - and she played the conversation in her head as she finished topping her ramen bowl with an excessive amount of green onion. [break][break]

Knock, knock, knock. [break][break]

She didn't think anything of it at first. She knew her mint hot chocolate packets were on the way from Mauville City, so it was likely that package and not a priority. Until the next set of knocks. [break][break]

She abandoned her bowl in the kitchen and stalked to the front door. She opened without checking the peep hole. "Gwennie!" Robin's eyes were alight with excitement (what were the chances!) and her gaze trailed over the girl only to notice the obvious. The negative space might as well have been a highlight. A spotlight. A glowing neon sign. [break][break]

Her face fell.

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The door opened and Gwen was met by the smiling, cheerful face of Robin that she had seen many times before. It was almost as if nothing life changing had happened for the past month and a half for her. Just seeing it made Gwen's already barely restrained fury boil even harder. Yet that voice she had loved to be called fell on deaf ears. A moment of silence passed as the two of them looked at one another. Gwen said nothing, keeping her head down with her teeth clenched together. She rose her eyes to glare at the girl in front of her and lost control. [break][break]

Her left arm rose and slapped Robin's cheek as hard as she could. While the girl was still in shock, she pushed the girl back inside her home. and followed after her.[break][break]

Liquid nitrogen burned inside of Gwen's veins, causing her to breathe hard. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" she yelled at Robin, balling her lone fist while demanding an answer from the psychic as she was on the ground. Gwen didn't hesitated, standing over her with furious eyes. "Get up." she didn't ask, no, she ordered her. [break][break]

Even if it was obeyed or not, the ginger threw her bag near the exit door and stomped up to Robin, grabbing her by the collar and forcing her to look at only her. "Talk, now." [break][break]

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The questions she didn't want to ask sat on her lips, though Gwen smacked her into thoughtlessness. Her mind cleared under the force of Gwen's hand - it split her lip, as luck would have it - and she had barely turned her head back to recenter her gaze on her longest friend when she was pushed to the ground. [break][break]

Omen appeared in the living room, behind Robin's fallen form, watching. [break][break]

Gwen tugged Robin up by the collar. Petrified by the seething visage of her closest ally, Robin's mouth moved in unvocalized motions. The talkative, self-assured, charismatic Ranger rendered mute. [break][break]

She had never, ever, ever seen Gwen this mad. Mad at Robin, at that... it was unthinkable. She grimaced as her tongue swiped across her split lip, stinging pain joining the copper taste. "What - what do you want me to say?" The world was off-rhythm. Gwen did not act like this. Gwen did not hurt her. Robin was never speechless. Why did she feel so... This was completely different than what Robin had experienced since Sootopolis. The sheer confidence of claiming her birthright as a psychic was absent. She was no supernatural force nor some accomplished Ranger nor esteemed Rocket ass-kicker.[break][break]

Gwen rendered her utterly human, vulnerable.

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"I want an explanation. For everything." Gwendolyn said, ignoring that bleeding heart of hers. She utterly despised herself for hitting Robin, the very person she would have died for. But she was out of line by every meaning of the phrase. The ginger's hand shook while looking up to see the observant form of the red Duskull in front of her. It wasn't a part of Robin's team beforehand, something to keep track of. The girl let go of the psychic after a moment to collect her thoughts. [break][break]

Gwen sat down with her head in her hands for a moment. She needed to figure out all of her thoughts together before finally letting the dam break in full. "I-I don't...You've been out of control for a while, and I was too stupid to see it before. Ah-I thought it was just the war and how it put all of us on edge. But you're not the same person I knew before all of this happened. Something's different." She exhaled, looking up at the other woman's frozen form while the ranger leaned back in her chair, eyes never once leaving Robin. "First, you abandon me without any notice during a mission. I had to watch them all die. Carlisle, Compton, Hendorff. And where were you? Nowhere to be seen in sight." [break][break]

Tears dripped down onto the floor, with Gwen now fully started to sob again, yet her fury continued. [break][break]

"Then when I wake up in the hospital, after having LOST. AN. ARM." Gwen showed off the empty sleeve where her right arm had once been, now neatly tied into a knot as she berated Robin, "I was worried and wanted to know you were alright. I could have been turned into a doorstop and I would have still called. But you never picked up. I texted, called, left voice messages. I asked every person who came in to check on you, a-and you know what I get in return? NOTHING!" She shouted the last part, growling at Robin again. [break][break]

"So I want answers. Answers to why you've been the shittiest friend for the past month and a half." [break][break]

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Dropped by Gwen's hand, Robin pushed herself onto her knees and faced her now-sitting best friend. Her gaze glued to the floor as Gwen spoke. Then, finally, Robin looked to her with wide eyes. "Didn't you notice...?" Omen hovers closer. It floats between the two of them now. A barrier. [break][break]

"Gwennie, it's the pokemon of my dreams. From my vision. I'm - I'm real! I'm a psychic!" She gestures widely then brings her hands to her chest in emphasis. "Me," she says breathlessly. "This is what I saw in Sootopolis... and I was with Roy, Gwennie. I didn't leave you. I found my destiny."[break][break]

Why wasn't Gwen happy for her? None of the rest of this mattered. Shitty friend? Robin couldn't be. "I'm chosen, Gwennie. I'm... it's fate. Fate!" She rises to her feet, the energy spilling over. "This was fated! All of it! Being outcast growing up to struggling to find myself to finding Omen! Fate, Gwennie. I wasn't a bad friend. I was following my path. I was playing my role. We all answer to Fate."

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Her words only prove to worry her more. Gwen had known that she wanted more than anything to be like the rest of her family and attain that psychic prowess, but to see her like this was beyond worrying. It had flat out bordered on an insane obsession at this point. "R-Robin, please..." Her answer was as clear as day as to why she hadn't been neglectful, at least partially. But all this about fate? None of it made any sense to somebody like her. She was scientific, if anything. Her head hurt from the conflicting thoughts, and she needed some kind of platform for this little spat they were having. "Was it fate that made you ignore me all this time?! Was it fate that made you act like a fucking asshole!" [break][break]

She went to slap Robin again, though the movement likely could be intervened if that fate thing had anything to do about it. Gwen wanted to smack some sense into her, as her rage had now dwindled down into a confused acceptance. "This isn't you, Robin. There's no such thing as fate! You've...just gone insane with your family's gift. That Duskull gave you your powers, right? You need to get rid of it. It's making you act crazy like this. You're not that same person that I came to Hoenn for." [break][break]

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Robin's heart sinks at Gwen's response. Her best friend was turning on her... Robin had to make her see reality. The ringing in her ears from tinnitus, from the partial permanent hearing loss of Sootoplis, reaches a fever pitch as Gwen finishes making her point. Robin feels like she's floating. The cold reassurance of Omen's presence trickles into her conscious mind, into her soul, into her body. She is possessed with the righteousness of her path. This is Fate. [break][break]

"I met you when we were six."

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---

[break][break]If she had greater emotional intelligence, she would say:[break][break]

I fell.[break][break]

(I've always fallen first.) [break][break]

You came to my side.[break][break]

(You've always been here.) [break][break]

I couldn't even see you at first because I was crying so hard. You were some orange blur that scared me, but your voice was soft and so matter-of-fact as you explained that I would not die from this wound. You pushed your glasses up on your face and identified the gravel in my knee.[break][break]

You had a first aid kit with you. You were always prepared. You always are. It had stunned me. I thought -[break][break]

---

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[break][break]I hadn't known then that you brought a first aid kit with you when you went outside because your parents didn't protect you. They had the means to. They had the first aid kit, didn't they? They just didn't protect you.[break][break]

You knew first aid kits helped people and you knew your parents didn't help you and you took it upon yourself to always take it with you when you played outside. You had to be able to help yourself. What you learned that day, what we both learned, was that you could help others, too. You knew I was hurt. You knew no one was helping me. You had to ability to help, so you did.[break][break]

You pulled out hydrogen peroxide and told me it would fizz up on my knee. I hadn't seen it before, I didn't believe you, but you were so confident. Your eyes lit up when you saw I didn't understand. You've always loved showing people something new. You've always loved knowing things, and teaching them. You poured it. It fizzled. I remember my jaw dropped.[break][break]

You wiped at my knee with a cloth to ease the rest of the gravel off. You bandaged my knee for me. I felt so guilty. How could I burden you, too?[break][break]

You felt so happy. You could help people, and do things, even though your parents didn't think you could do much of anything. It makes sense that you stopped trying to impress them, later. You holed up in your room unless I was around to offer you an adventure. That was the core of it, wasn't it? That -[break][break]

---

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[break][break]That's right. I saw you for what you were. You saw me for what I could be. The perfect storm.[break][break]

You held your hand out to me to help me up and I offered it to you. I flinched when you pulled me to my feet because my palms were skinned. My hands burned in yours. I squeezed tighter.[break][break]

This is our story.[break][break]

I reach for the stars I was told could never be mine. I bring you with me. Please, please don't believe me when I say it. I'm sick. I'm scared. I'm lost. And worse of all, I'm alone. You aren't here. You keep me grounded enough to remember that I do not wake up to seek glory, I wake up to help people and have a community - one with you in it. Pursuing something without a home to return to is just running away. You create community. You represent the best humanity has to offer because you are brilliant and kind, and you persevere. I've been lost with you. Please don't believe me when I say -[break][break]

---

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[break][break]It could never be true. Please, you have seen this story so many times. I could have died on an ocean route and the experience left me so scared and ungrounded that I abused my pokemon to make them stronger. You stopped me. You showed me light.[break][break]

I saw the Rocket scientist create a monstrosity, an abomination, a cruel and hurt thing from a recipe that should have never been thought up. I rescued Type: Null, but my anger bloodied his nose and my fist and I broke your glasses while you tried to pull me off. You didn't hate me for it. You talked me out of my rage. You wore contacts. [break][break]

You pick something and you work at it and you excel. You are a scientist at heart. You are a professor at heart. You are a dragon rider at heart. You are a nurturer at heart. Your heart is so big and burdened. You are so many things. I have always only been one (a mistake).[break][break]

The world is full of people who destroy, but you create. You are the antithesis to Rocket. You also reject the urge to control others by choosing to guide instead. Consequently, you are not so much like the League, either. You are what the League should be. You are what I should be.[break][break]

You spent so many years feeling inferior to me. All the while, I should have turned my gaze away from all the things I wanted to be and instead cherished the identity you gifted me: being your friend. [break][break]

I have loved you since skinned knees. I have loved you since you pulled me away from the darkness. I have loved you since you stopped me from making an irreversible mistake. I have loved you since you looked at your hands as a child and knew, without knowing what it looked like, that you could help. Please don't change for me, please don't give in to what I've become. [break][break]

---

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"Made for you? Dead weight?!" Gwen asked her incredulously. How could she just start spitting shit like that so freely. Her emotions were getting the best of her, the dragon rider hissing at the other woman. It stung her to the core to be seen as such by somebody so close. Robin could see the hurt and stinging in her eyes, while Gwen clenched her teeth in a silent fury. "You...fucking bitch! I worried about you! That day when that Rocket nearly abducted you, I cried myself to sleep over you. How I couldn't be there for you! Do you want me to spill my guts? To tell you everything?" Gwen stood there in shock, just hyperventilating from the next screaming session she had been going through. After a while of just listening to Robin more, she snapped back. [break][break]

"I did this for you! I did everything for you! And now you're just going to tell me that I'm nothing to you?! I met Freya so I could make sure you'd be safe! I busted my ass at work because I wanted us to get an apartment together! Because I wanted us to spend time together! Because I love you, you fucking idiot!" Gwen bit her tongue back, refusing to continue wasting more effort at her fate loving friend. That threat to her meant nothing to her know. She could care less about it. [break][break]

"But seeing you like this, it's not healthy. I can't keep doing this with you." Gwen said, getting back into Robin's face. "So make me believe that you care. Or else we're over."

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In a different apartment or state of mind or reality, Gwen's confession would have moved mountains. No one in the world knew Robin like Gwen, and no one was worth more to her than her best friend... but Fate had gotten its claws in her, and Robin was above such lowly concerns. She watched Gwen's righteous anger and frustrated affection with equal annoyance. "Listen to me," she ordered, stepping into Gwen's personal space. [break][break]

"You have no choice. Don't you get it? You're making a big deal out of nothing. This was all meant to happen. This fight, right here, is destined. But you'll be happier if you just let this shit go. It's all - it's FATE. Why is this not getting through to you?" She looked at Gwen like the other Ranger was stupid. "My abduction, your arm, this confrontation, all of it! Is! Fate! You aren't choosing this: it was chosen for you. Things are just falling into place. Instead of being upset, you should be looking forward. You should have some pride. The divine picked this path for you. I see it, Gwen." Her eyes glittered with sickly excitement. "I see it all, now."[break][break]

Still, she sensed Gwen's anger, resentment, and perhaps a growing desire to leave. [break][break]

Her hand darted out to grip Gwen's wrist, hard, if the Ranger didn't duck out of the way. "You're staying. You are meant to be at my side forever." Her face fell into something horrifically stoic, or maybe determined. "I won't let you leave until you see things for how they really are."

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